Fennell, popular with celebrities such as Sir Elton John and Victoria Beckham, said a new diamond collection starting at £500 would be launched in the Spring to “attract a wider audience” and boost demand.

A new Fennell diamond collection starting at £500 will be launched in the Spring

It came as first-half sales fell 8 per cent to £4.94million as the Olympics kept wealthy tourists away. However, sales in eastern Europe, particularly Russia and Ukraine, did well and online sales soared 176 per cent.

It reduced losses to £610,083 from £1.3million as it opted not to replace senior managers who had left. Shares were unchanged at 11¾p.

The group, which is talking to distributors and prospective partners in China, said it also remained in talks with private equity firm EME Capital about a takeover.